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Wang Liuyu also embraced Wang Luojing with questions and concern, clearly feeling tender towards this well-behaved niece who lost her father at a young age, and specially gave her a gold note worth ten Qian Gold.
"Auntie, Jing'er cannot accept this. I heard that Cousin Zhuo is currently trying to reach the Third Layer of the Qi Refining Realm; you should save it for him," Wang Luojing waved her hand repeatedly, refusing to accept it no matter what.
The cultivation resources of young clan members usually come mainly from the family's supply. In addition, closer blood relatives, such as parents, often try to support the younger generation.
However, Wang Luojing's father Wang Dingbang died five years ago, so Luojing is at a disadvantage in this aspect.
"Jing'er, when Auntie gives it to you, just take it," Wang Liuyu said with slight annoyance, "Now that your father is gone, won't I, as your biological aunt, help you out a bit?"
"Luojing, just accept it," Wang Shouzhe said with a smile from the side, "Don't let down Third Aunt's good intentions."
He certainly understood; this was after both Wang Luojing and Wang Shouzhe had shown great value. "Grandfather-in-law" Gongsun Mo specifically brought along Third Aunt and her husband to accompany them to further strengthen the closeness and play the family card.
Moreover, Wang Luojing is the future Spirit Insect Master, so when should they draw her in if not now? Wang Shouzhe naturally also welcomed the relationship between the two sides growing closer, as the Gongsun Family's overall strength was much greater than that of the Ping'an Wang Family.
"Yes, Fourth Brother, thank you, Third Aunt," Wang Luojing obediently accepted it.
Afterwards, the two families sat down happily for a meal.
However, this time, the main focus was not on Wang Shouzhe, but Wang Luojing.
"Luojing," Gongsun Mo personally served her a bowl of White Jade Spirit Rice, adding a large piece of Spirit Horned Yak Meat and a large piece of Spirit Fish Flesh, "You worked too hard today, eat more, don't be polite."
Wang Luojing felt a bit overwhelmed and weakly looked at Wang Shouzhe. The resources of any family are distributed in a unified manner, and as a girl from the main lineage of the family, her training position is not high, and the allotted spiritual food each month is very limited; where would she have such a luxurious way of eating?
She pursed her lips, wanting to eat, but didn't dare to.
"Go ahead and eat it, don't let down Grandfather's intentions," Wang Shouzhe gently stroked her head, "In the future, your brother will work harder to try and ensure a good life for everyone in the family."
"Okay, thank you, Fourth Brother, thank you, Grandfather Gongsun," Wang Luojing obediently picked up her chopsticks and began to eat the White Jade Spirit Rice in big bites, her expression very satisfied.
Seeing how she ate so contentedly, Wang Shouzhe felt a mix of relief and the heavy pressure of being the head of the clan.
"Zhe'er, this time, it's all thanks to you," Gongsun Mo poured spirit wine and said to Wang Shouzhe, "Our people have assessed that this time, because of your support, we will produce at most twenty percent less than last year, saving us over a thousand Qian Gold in losses."
A thousand Qian Gold is a huge sum for both the Gongsun Family and the Wang Family. What also caught Gongsun Mo's attention was Wang Shouzhe's goodwill signals towards the Gongsun Family.
It was precisely because of this that the Gongsun family brought out their utmost sincerity to host Wang Shouzhe and his group, with enough spirit wine and spiritual food. This feast alone must cost at least a dozen Qian Gold.
"Grandfather-in-law is being too polite," Wang Shouzhe took a sip of the spirit wine and said modestly, "Truth be told, our two families were just fortunate, as my younger sister accidentally learned some Insect Control Skill."
The Young Clan Leader Gongsun Qiang, sitting beside him, had a bright look in his eyes: "Speaking of which, Shouzhe, you're very fortunate; just after becoming the Clan Leader, the family discovered a Spirit Insect Master. I wonder if Luojing is married? Should we consider our Xiao Yan?"
"What?"
Wang Luojing was eating rice and meat when she heard this, her eyes widening in surprise.
"Uncle, Luojing is only twelve," Wang Shouzhe's tone revealed a hint of dissatisfaction, "Moreover, Cousin is from the direct lineage of the Gongsun family, and our Luojing is only from the main lineage, afraid that they do not match."
"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter," Gongsun Qiang seemed to brush off Wang Shouzhe's implied meanings, continuing, "With such a wonderful girl as Luojing, our family doesn't care about her lineage."
Wang Shouzhe put his hand to his forehead, thinking, you might not mind, but we do.
Fortunately, Gongsun Hui stepped in to deflect the attention: "Brother, don't be so optimistic. Our Luojing is a Spirit Insect Master with limitless future potential. Just her ability to control the Nine-Star Insect King makes her a prized asset for the entire Changning Guard. Since the Purple Mansion Academy's Insecticide Powder had such a serious flaw, no family really wants to use it again, do they?"
After a pause, Gongsun Hui continued, "Just considering the Gongsun family's 16,000 acres of fertile land, using pesticide once a season, twice a year, the annual consumption of Insecticide Powder costs over three hundred Qian Gold. If our Wang Family charged the Gongsun family just two hundred Qian Gold, having a Spirit Insect Master personally remove the insects, would this business not be worth doing?"
Gongsun Hui's words seemed to awaken everyone.
Even Gongsun Mo involuntarily took a deep breath, looking at Wang Luojing with extraordinary seriousness, as if seeing a gold mine.
The earning potential of a Spirit Insect Master is indeed immense.
Regarding this business, Wang Shouzhe had actually already thought about it. However, relying solely on Luojing as a Spirit Insect Master, the number she could handle in a limited amount of time would inevitably be limited; even at best, she'd only be able to manage five to six thousand acres.
But even so, just by helping various families with pest control, they could earn at least seven or eight hundred Qian Gold a year, and that's at a friendly discount price.
Let alone, Spirit Insect Masters excel at cultivating spiritual insects; among these insects, there are quite a few economical types, such as spiritual silkworms and spirit bees.
So, Grandmother Gongsun Hui spoke Wang Shouzhe's intentions, Gongsun Qiang was being overly optimistic. Who would be willing to marry off such a precious asset?
"Shouzhe, you truly are blessed," Gongsun Qiang looked at Wang Shouzhe with eyes filled with envy and jealousy, wishing his clan could also have a Spirit Insect Master.
Unfortunately, Spirit Insect Masters are not easy to come by.
Firstly, the number of those with the Spirit Insect Master talent is extremely scarce; one must have the talent to communicate with insects, a very unusual gift.
Secondly, families generally do not have the means to inherit Spirit Insect Master skills, making it difficult to identify such talent among the clan members.
According to the information possessed by the Gongsun family, throughout the Changning Guard Region, there's only a mere total of three Spirit Insect Masters. They belong to the Shanyin Liu Family, the Changning Xu Family, and the City Guard Mansion has a Spirit Insect Master as a tributor.
The Gongsun family had slightly more detailed information than the Wang family, due to Shanyang Gongsun's greater strength within the Spirit Platform race.
Since both the Gongsun and Wang families had mutual goodwill intentions, this dinner truly felt harmonious.
The next day.
Revived and refreshed, Wang Luojing continued taming the newly captured Grasshopper King and Nine-Star Insect King. Having had multiple past experiences, Wang Luojing seemed to make significant progress, taming several Insect Kings in just half an hour.
By afternoon, she had already deployed the Insect Kings in two other farms, and next, the Gongsun family's clansmen and household generals would continue capturing wild grasshoppers and nine-star insects to replenish the wheat fields.
With the Insect King leading the way, the wild grasshoppers and nine-star insects would not leave.
"Fourth Brother, the taming of those Insect Kings is too shallow," Wang Luojing said somewhat wearily after completing everything, "Within a few days, their wild nature will likely resurface, so in a few days, we'll have to do this again. Fourth Brother, let's head to the Yingxiu Lu Family next."
"Luojing, you seem a bit tired," Wang Shouzhe said with concern, "Why not rest for a night before going?"
"Fourth Brother, I'm fine," Wang Luojing shook her head and said, "The signs of a pest outbreak are becoming increasingly apparent. If we wait till tomorrow, the Lu Family will suffer significant losses. Fourth Brother, I understand the relationship with the Yingxiu Lu Family..."
Yes, the relationship.
In fact, purely from a blood relationship perspective, the connection between the Yingxiu Lu Family and Wang Shouzhe is extremely close. This is because his mother, who passed away early due to illness, was a lady of Yingxiu Lu Family and also the sister of the current Lu Family head, Lua Zhengxiong.
Moreover, Lua Zhengxiong's legitimate wife came from the Wang Family's sixth-generation main lineage, which means she was Wang Shouzhe's own aunt, Wang Liuling.
This mutual marrying custom is frequently practiced among noble families. The mutual marriages between the main lineages elevate the intimacy between two families to the peak.
The only exception was that Wang Shouzhe's biological mother, Lua Mengxue, passed away when he was six, leaving a young son and daughter. In Wang Shouzhe's memory, memories of his mother remained the strongest, and recalling her remains quite painful nowadays.
Fortunately, his stepmother, Gongsun Hui, treated him extremely well from a young age, as if he were her own, gradually allowing him to accept his stepmother and heal a lot of the emotional scars.
As his memories and feelings became more intertwined, Wang Shouzhe felt himself increasingly merging into this world, as if he had grown up here, while the memories of Earth gradually seemed more like a dream realm.
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